It is officially a free-for all for the iPhone in Singapore. And while the public can expect charges to drop – and the telcos anticipate high take-up rates – news yesterday of StarHub’s entry to the iPhone market nonetheless drew a bittersweet response from some consumers.
The telco’s announcement that it has reached an agreement with manufacturer Apple to offer the smartphone means by next month, customers of all three telcos here will be able to get their hands on the gadget.
In its statement – a month after M1 broke SingTel’s 14-month monopoly – StarHub said it would offer the iPhone “later this year”, along with “a range of tailored service plans”. Pricing, tariffs and availability dates will be released in due course.
The news sent StarHub’s share price up 7 cents, closing at $1.95 yesterday.
Copywriter Daniel Lee, a decade-long StarHub customer until last week when he switched to another telco, felt “quite bummed”. Said the 29-year-old: “I think I’d be echoing the same sentiments as others who ‘jumped’ … (StarHub) wasn’t fast enough on the uptake.”
Mr Lee contemplated switching back to StarHub after its announcement, but decided against it due to the hefty penalty he would incur for breaking his new contract.
But another StarHub subscriber Khaled Talib, 44, will finally be getting the iPhone – the Blackberry user was put off by the long queues in August last year when the iPhone was launched here.
iPhone charges are set to drop if Australia’s experience is anything to go by, said telco analyst Aloysius Choong.
Data plans, based on Gigabytes per month, fell from above A$150 ($193) to below A$100 within a year when Hutchison and Virgin entered the fray, said the research manager at IDC’s Asia Pacific personal systems group.
“In Singapore, we should likewise see some price competition in iPhone subsidies and tariffs, although not in the same magnitude as Australia,” he said.
But consumers looking to get smartphones from Apple rivals such as Nokia, HTC or Samsung might be worse off, as StarHub and M1 now have less need to subsidise these products, he noted.
When contacted, M1 was tight-lipped about its iPhone launch date and pricing plans. SingTel spokesman Chia Boon Chong said: “To date, we have put tens of thousands of iPhone 3GS in the hands of our customers. We review our price plans regularly to ensure that they offer the best value to our customers and remain competitive in the market.”
